Housemarque: Alienation is more than just a re-skinned Dead Nation

I’ve been following Housemarque’s upcoming twin-stick shooter Alienation from the second it got announced, primarily because of my love for one of the developer’s previous games, Dead Nation. But while the sci-fi shooter bears quite a resemblance to the latter game — to the point of Housemarque calling it a “spiritual successor” — there are a few new features that help to set it apart.

In a post on the PlayStation Blog, community manager Tommas De Benetti details one particularly important change: how you acquire weapons. While Dead Nation cut up each chapter with several gate-barricaded checkpoints, where you could refill ammunition and purchase new guns, Alienation gives you weapons from fallen enemies and boxes scattered throughout the game.

If you want a little more RPG in your shooter, Alienation looks like it will provide that, as well. Four types of “Alien Cores” will allow you to upgrade your weapons, and looted metals will allow you to further customize individual weapon attributes.

A new trailer also offers a more extended look at the game’s character classes, and given Alienation‘s focus on cooperative play, knowing how to use them will be especially important.

The Bio-Chemist class, which Benetti says is actually a good option for solo players, can dispense a poisonous gas to damage attacking aliens, and she can also summon a little personal army of robots to help her defend against larger waves of enemies. The Tank, meanwhile, is exactly what it sounds like: a heavily armored, slow, and extremely powerful unit that you want leading the charge.

If you want to mix some stealth and melee into your shooting, then the Saboteur

is for you, offering a plasma sword for devastating up-close attacks, as well as the ability to turn temporarily invisible.

Do you plan on picking up Alienation when it launches for PlayStation 4 later this month? Which class will you pick? Let us know in the comments!

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